AWS Certified Developer–Associate

(DVA-C01) Examination Guide

Introduction
This AWS Certified Developer-Associate Examination (DVA-001) is intended for individuals who perform a
Developer role.

It validates an examinee’s ability to:

 Demonstrate an understanding of core AWS services, uses, and basic AWS architecture best practices.
 Demonstrate proficiency in developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications using AWS.

Examination Prerequisite
There are no prerequisites for taking the Developer-Associate examination.

Recommended AWS Knowledge

 One or more years of hands-on experience developing and maintaining an AWS based application
 In-depth knowledge of at least one high-level programming language
 Understanding of core AWS services, uses, and basic AWS architecture best practices
 Proficiency in developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications using AWS
 Ability to use the AWS service APIs, AWS CLI, and SDKs to write applications
 Ability to identify key features of AWS services
 Understanding of the AWS shared responsibility model
 Understanding of application lifecycle management
 Ability to use a CI/CD pipeline to deploy applications on AWS
 Ability to use or interact with AWS services
 Ability to apply a basic understanding of cloud-native applications to write code
 Ability to write code using AWS security best practices (e.g., not using secret and access keys in the code,
instead using IAM roles)
 Ability to author, maintain, and debug code modules on AWS
 Proficiency writing code for serverless applications
 Understanding of the use of containers in the development process

Exam Preparation
These training courses and materials may be helpful for examination preparation:

AWS Training (aws.amazon.com/training)

 Developing on AWS: An instructor-led live or virtual 3-day course
 Developer-Associate Exam Prep Qwiklabs course

AWS Whitepapers (aws.amazon.com/whitepapers) Kindle and .pdf

 AWS Security Best Practices whitepaper, August 2016
 AWS Well-Architected Framework whitepaper, November 2017
 Architecting for the Cloud AWS Best Practices whitepaper, February, 2016
 Practicing Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery on AWS Accelerating Software Delivery with
DevOps whitepaper, June 2017

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  Microservices on AWS whitepaper, September 2017
 Blue/Green Deployments on AWS whitepaper, August 2016
 AWS Documentation for services, including, but not limited to, the compute, database, application
services, and messaging web pages including service guides and references

Exam Content
Response Types
There are two types of questions on the examination:
 Multiple-choice: Has one correct response and three incorrect responses (distractors).
 Multiple-response: Has two correct responses out of five options.

Select one or more responses that best complete the statement or answer the question. Distractors, or incorrect
answers, are response options that an examinee with incomplete knowledge or skill would likely choose. However,
they are generally plausible responses that fit in the content area defined by the test objective.

Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; there is no penalty for guessing.

Unscored Content
Your examination may include non-scored questions that are placed on the test to gather statistical information.
These questions are not identified on the form, and do not affect your score.

Exam Results
The AWS Certified Developer-Associate Examination (DVA-C01) is a pass or fail exam. The examination is scored
against a minimum standard established by AWS professionals guided by certification industry best practices and
guidelines.

Your results for the examination are reported as a score from 100 through 1000, with a minimum passing score of
720. Your score shows how you performed on the examination as a whole and whether or not you passed. Scaled
scoring models are used to equate scores across multiple exam forms that may have slightly different difficulty
levels.

Your score report contains a table of classifications of your performance at each section level. This information is
designed to provide general feedback concerning your examination performance. The examination uses a
compensatory scoring model, which means that you do not need to “pass” the individual sections, only the overall
examination. Each section of the examination has a specific weighting, so some sections have more questions than
others. The table contains general information, highlighting your strengths and weaknesses. Exercise caution when
interpreting section-level feedback.

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Content Outline
This exam guide includes weightings, test domains, and objectives only. It is not a comprehensive listing of the
content on this examination. The table below lists the main content domains and their weightings.

Domain % of Examination
Domain 1: Deployment 22%
Domain 2: Security 26%
Domain 3: Development with AWS Services 30%
Domain 4: Refactoring 10%
Domain 5: Monitoring and Troubleshooting 12%

Content Area 1: Deployment

Topic 1.1 Deploy written code in AWS using existing CI/CD pipelines, processes, and patterns.
Topic 1.2 Deploy applications using Elastic Beanstalk.
Topic 1.3 Prepare the application deployment package to be deployed to AWS.
Topic 1.4 Deploy serverless applications.

Content Area 2: Security

Topic 2.1 Make authenticated calls to AWS services.
Topic 2.2 Implement encryption using AWS services.
Topic 2.3 Implement application authentication and authorization.

Content Area 3: Development with AWS Services

Topic 3.1 Write code for serverless applications.
Topic 3.2 Translate functional requirements into application design.
Topic 3.3 Implement application design into application code.
Topic 3.4 Write code that interacts with AWS services by using APIs, SDKs, and AWS CLI.

Content Area 4: Refactoring

Topic 4.1 Optimize application to best use AWS services and features.
Topic 4.2 Migrate existing application code to run on AWS.

Content Area 5: Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Topic 5.1 Write code that can be monitored.
Topic 5.2 Perform root cause analysis on faults found in testing or production.

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